1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to remote alert and emergency resident notification systems for assisted, independent, and memory care facilities, and more particularly, to an interactive wireless life safety communications system for caregivers to connect with patients, residents, other caregivers, and staff, and a reporting platform.
2. Related Art
Due to the different levels of disabilities from which an individual can suffer that precludes independent living in one way or another, the degree of care needed to accommodate such individuals and the facilities therefor likewise varies. In general, supervision of or assistance with activities of daily living, including personal hygiene and grooming, dressing and undressing, feeding, bladder and bowel movement, and so forth are provided, as well as provision and/or coordination of healthcare, and monitoring to ensure health, safety, and well-being. At one end of the continuum of care are nursing homes or skilled nursing facilities, which typically accommodate individuals with severe disabilities and require twenty four hour care; while at the other end of the continuum of care is independent living. In between the continuum are assisted living, which helps the elderly and disabled to live active, independent, and dignified lives with maximum personal control while providing for the needs that minimize the exacerbation and effects of chronic conditions.
Assisted living facilities may vary in size from a small residential house to very large, multi-building institutions that care for hundreds of residents. Individual apartment-type units may be assigned to each resident, complete with a bedroom and a bathroom, and possibly other space such as a kitchen or a living area. Alternatively, the residential space may be more akin to a hotel or a dormitory, in which there is a private bedroom (and possibly a private bathroom), with shared common areas including kitchens and living areas. Although skilled nursing staff is not typically on-site at all times throughout the day, other trained staff may be available to accommodate the needs of residents, including housekeeping, laundry, and meal preparation. To the extent registered nurses and licensed practical nurses are unavailable on-site, they may be available by phone.
One of the modalities by which such nurses and medical personnel can be alerted are devices worn by the residents such as pendants and watches. Upon activation by the wearer, or automatically depending on certain conditions, a signal in response to the emergency may be generated for receipt by the staff. Heretofore the preferred notification modality has been one-way numeric or alphanumeric pagers, which utilize a more robust wireless communications technology that ensures timely delivery of messages and minimizes interference with other life-critical equipment. The concern over unreliable wireless communication links is particularly acute in larger, fully enclosed facilities inside of which cellular telephone coverage is weak and unreliable at best. The deployment of pagers in such an environment partially resolved such issues.
However, being one-way devices, the level of interactivity between the pager and staff personnel and the assisted living facility manager(s) was extremely limited. For instance, even though an alert may have been transmitted, there was no way to completely ascertain whether the page was received, and just as importantly, whether any of the staff had responded. Furthermore, even if one of the staff had responded, because there was no way to indicate that such response is ongoing, other staff may also respond and rush to the location of concern. It is possible to include additional information regarding the specific location and the nature of the alert in the page, and it can therefore be expected that the number of responding stuff will be limited to some extent. In many cases, it may be unneeded and hence wasteful of personnel resources, even though it may be desirable for more than one staff member to respond to an alert in some limited circumstances.
For more immediate communications between the alerting system, facility management and the responder, two-way voice radio may be utilized. The limited audio fidelity can render communications difficult, and in any case, may require a full-time dispatcher on the management side. Running and participating in such voice radio nets requires particular knowledge of operation, identification, and priority rules. Another disadvantage with radio is that the loud volume necessary for full comprehension may be disruptive to patients/residents. In more widely dispersed facilities where cellular coverage is not restricted inside buildings because of the relative proximity to the outside, mobile telephones may also be utilized. However, similar problems of delays, additional required staff, and the like are attendant thereto. Moreover, with each additional device that is distributed to personnel, the costs and complexity increase substantially.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved interactive wireless life safety communications system for caregivers to connect with residents via alerts and voice, caregiver to caregiver and staff, and caregiver to a reporting system. It would be desirable for the communications between the caregivers and other personnel to be bi-directional with voice capability and easily conducted via an intuitive user interface.